I've been a mopar guy since about 2000...I always loved the general lee as a kid and was captivated as a young adult by the hemi and its legendary status, even around ford and chevy guys. After I finished college I purchased a worn out little toyota pickup to commute to work in, it promptly started running VERY rough. I took it to the closest repair shop to work I could find. The mechanic there repaired it and told me I had a loose distributor and that I had had a fire in my air cleaner. He knew I was broke and recently out of school and patched it up with a helicoil. He had a picture of a 1970 B5 Blue Superbee on his counter and as I was waiting I asked about it. He was a mopar guy and told me it was his bee, he had restored it and several other cars, etc. I started stopping by his shop and having coffee in the waiting area with a few retired guys and talking cars...pretty soon i had a coffee mug there and was a 'regular'. I started looking for a muscle car and after seeing his car in person when he drove it to work in the summer, I was hooked. My job was pretty crappy but I saved up and bought a 69 Coronet 500 with a mid 70s 440 in it for $1200. It had no brakes and the front suspension was scary, both bumpers were bent, the interior was totally destroyed, and it didn't have any window trim. It was however, loud and fast. I had the front end work done, bought a new carb, replaced the grill, etc. I didn't have the money to really restore it the way I wanted and my girlfriend at the time thought it was too "white trash" with its home done green paint job, dents, etc. so I sold it to a family that was going to restore it as a father/son project. I really wanted a clean, beautiful FAST mopar.

I still had the bug so I bought a 67 Belvedere II with a 400 in it that was shiny, pretty, and had a nice interior. She loved it. It was no where near as fast or cool as the Coronet but it was more reliable and by far easier to drive. I built a 383 with the help of my mechanic buddy and his friend and learned a lot...we put it in and the car was a little faster. I showed it although it was a modified 10 footer and had a lot of fun zooming around in it. Life started to happen and I wasn't able to use the car so I ended up selling it...and really I wanted a 68-70 B-body four speed 440. A hot rod...with pretty paint, day 2 style, that i could zoom around in and also show at car shows for fun. I didn't really have the means to build/buy what wanted at the time. I was single and starting a new career so my car hobby took a back seat to work.

I got a new girlfriend then that was a car girl and so I ended up buying my 69 Roadrunner...which needed WAY WAY more work than I ever anticipated...I ended up taking almost 10 years getting it roadworthy and by then the paint was damaged, the interior already needed work (it had been new!) the engine was giving me problems, the gas tank leaked and I couldn't figure it out (neither could a well known restorer or my local mechanic), it was really loud, the four speed was cool as heck but my gearing was off and I realized that in the 10 years it took to get it done my wants and needs had totally changed. All the work I had done needing to be redone and the ensuing frustration had really taken the joy out of ownership to me...all I could see were the problems. I have moved and having a street racing monster is totally impractical where I live...it's all country roads where you need to go 55-60.

I realized I wanted an auto on the column car so my girl can sit next to me, with AC because its hot in summer and helps defrost in the winter...I'm getting OLD! I sold the runner to a Moparts member who is a great guy and has done some needed repairs to the old girl. I probably could have sold it for more on BAT or through a sketchy consignment dealer but its important to me for it go to the right person. I'm starting to look into getting another mopar (still have my 2005 Powerwagon) but its funny that now that I have the means to afford the 'holy grail' cars i always wanted (A12 Roadrunner, Charger R/T, etc.) I'm more practical and frugal...I don't need the fastest street car anymore (I'm 46). Like I said, a nice 68-70 B-body 440 auto on the column with AC is calling my name...not necessarily a restored perfect example but a nice driver I could show. Has anyone else had this sort of transition in what you want to do in the hobby and what suits your needs? I'm curious if anyone else has had their mopar priorities change over the years, or even over the course of a restoration. I also find it ironic that now that I could buy or build what i used to want I don't want that anymore...the cars that catch my eye are ones I used to think were kind of boring. The survivors, the oddly optioned cars, etc. rather than the pure performance cars.

Good stuff

I've loved Mopars and Mopars only since I have memories. Funny, I never drooled over the Mopar Muscle cars as much as I did over the big sedans with big engines, although I loved them too! I loved all Mopars. As a kid anything Chrysler made my heart race lol. I took a lot of crap off friends who were mostly chevy sheep. Some ford guys but I didn't care. Mopar was always part of who I am and always will be. I would drool over the big police cruisers, knowing they were built to the hilt, and had big powerful engines (granted smog engines but I was ignorant of that). They were still big performers for the day and I was in love with them. I saw FHP Monacos on I-95 and knew they had 440's and thought they were the greatest things. I'd go to the Dodge dealership with my dad and drool over Aspen R/T's and Super Coupes with 360's thinking they were awesome! I was years away from driving and again, a clueless kid thinking they were just the greatest! Everythings relative. I'd see older Mopar Muscle and thought they were really cool but I never dreamed of the day I could have one. It was the big sedans and Dodge trucks. Thermoquad carbs wide open. God I love that sound. I use to see a '79 300 on my bike ride to school and I loved riding past it, seeing the factory dual exhaust out the back and just the whole car turned me on lol. I dreamed of having one of those! The TV shows with the Mopar police cars were my favorites! You all know the ones! And once I had the means I started buying old Mopar police cars and keeping some stock and loving them and adding some power to others and loving them too, but always keeping the stock appearance. Laying in bed and thinking about my Mopars has kept me awake many nights!

I still dream of getting one of these!

My '89 AHB

I've been a Mopar guy all my life really. Grew up with my folks having Plymouth sedans ('63 Belvedere 318 and '69 Fury III 383). When I graduated from high school in the middle of the dark ages I wanted a Dart convertible. My wife and I bought our GTS convertible in 1983 and still have it. It will continue to remain stock.

I always wanted to build a big block A-body so in 1988 I picked up a '67 Dart GT hardtop and built it with a 440/18-spline/3.23SG. My older son had a mishap with it so all of those parts wound up in my younger son's '67 Dart GT convertible.

I've also always liked the '67-69 Barracudas (friend of mine had a Commando four speed '67 when we were in high school). Bought my first '67 fastback in 1996. Built it with a 383/727 and sold it in 2006 in order to buy my '67 convertible that now has a 440/727 and will get AC (Classic kit on the shelf ready to go in).

Obviously there is a convertible trend in there as well as a big block trend. My focus in the hobby hasn't changed in the last 45 years so it likely won't in the future...

Larry-

I remember seeing an old Plymouth when I was a little kid (3-4 years old) and my mom told me “those old plymouths were FAST!”. Maybe that stuck with me…I love those old C-bodies too. Cop car furys and those cool two doors.

It seems like the hobby has changed a lot since I first got into it too…obviously everything is more expensive but a lot of the old timers that taught and helped me are gone. Even old Ben Snobar gave me a killer deal on a 6-pack air cleaner bottom, which was unheard of!! I had as much fun making friends and learning as I did working on the car, both at home and here online. So many folks helped me out and made my project better that I miss that part of the hobby the most. Car shows, fun runs, cruise-ins, and cars and coffee are still a lot of fun.

Jim -

I like those older darts too. Big block A-bodies are no joke!

In Nov 1967 while stationed in SEA I seen an add in Hot Rod magazine announcing release of the Dodge Super Bee in April 1968. The add had a picture of yellow Super Bee. Man I fell in love wit the looks of that car in the add. I returned home from SEA in December of 1967 and was stationed in Enid, Ok. On the morning of 2 Apri 1968 I was driving past Dean Peterson Dodge in Enid and seen they had a yellow Super Bee setting in the show room just like the one I had seen in the add. I stopped and went iin intending to just look at it. Well to make a long story short I drove that yellow Super Bee home that morning and have been driving MOPRs ever since.

46 ? You're a pup ! At age 6, the only car as cool as my grandparents' '55 Bel Air was Mom & Dad's new '57 Sport Suburban...which I remember on the showroom floor...
I think it's normal to gravitate towards different areas of a hobby with age & experience.
I've gone from modifying my stuff, to stock restorations, to the drag car, and back to the survivor/restored stuff, though I also dig clean drivers with some patina.
I between, there have been several hot street cars.
Somehow it seems a memory or a goal gets stimulated, and that nudges me into a slightly different direction within the Mopar affliction-I-mean-hobby.
The main thing, as the saying goes, is "don't let the old man in". Playing keeps us young, at least in our heads !

And the other thing I miss is walking the junk yards! Back when I was a kid and you'd still see some cool old Mopars with big V8's. When I was 16 I had a '67 D100 with a poly 318 and there was still a few gems buried in the yards. And before that I'd go with my dad and I was a kid in a candy store just walking through the yards. I remember spotting a car and running over to lift the hood just to see what was under there. Old Darts, Furys, and even New Yorkers excited me.

If I had more space I would like to have a nice 60's 4x4 Dodge truck. I still enjoy driving my Challenger, but a truck would be more useful. An old truck would be great for hauling my dirt bike, or running to the Home Depot. No heavy hauling, but a sheet of plywood or a few 2x4's now and then. Driving a 60's sweptline would be cooler than my 05 Ram!

My approach into the Mopar hobby was different then most. To put things in perspective, I graduated high school in 1974. I was a teenager during the performance era. My 1st job was at the local auto repair gas station (that was where most people got their cars fixed back then, and the place I worked at was one of the best in town. Our HS had a really good auto shop class. Our town also had a local 1/2 mile dirt track. I had a goal to be a race car driver (dirt track) and a dirt track car owner. I grew up around dirt track racing, by the time I was just in HS, I was already pretty well acquainted with race cars, and high performance. My life and experiences at the gas station taught me that those Mopar cars and trucks held up very well. I didn't get to play with cars much while I was living at home, both parents didn't think cars were a very dignified profession.

As soon as I got out of their house, 4 buddies and I built our first dirt track car My buddy drove (he had the most money in it) and I was the main mechanic because of my experience. Our 1st dirt track was was a 69 Road Runner I bought for $150 from a guy at a corner gas station. Old performance cars were cheap in 1974. After that 1st year, the race car became mine as the other guys didn't want to spend money on it. I soon discovered that buying performance cars and parting them out could fund my dirt track racing. There were a lot of high (and low) performance Mopar cars and trucks that passed through my hands. I discovered early that I was not a race car driver, but I could build a decent car for little money, and i started putting brand new drivers in my car. I ran a Mopar in the hobby class at our local track for 20+ years. While I was running the dirt trach car, several of those cars bought for parts, or to resell hung around for a while.

Restoration wasn't my game at all, I pictured that as a total waste of money. Buy them cheap, make them fast, sell them and move on was my game. After the dirt track thing ended, I turned to the streets for a few years, but by then street racing wasn't very highly thought of (for good reasons). Then I turned to old Mopars. A 35 Dodge 2 door sedan was my 1st, there have been many since.

Pictures or it didn't happen.
Pic 1 the 1st dirt track car.
Pic 2 The 35
pic 3 my favorite Performance Mopar
Pic 4 My current 2 old rides, the car is street driven, the truck is the last one.

It seems I always change my mind about projects and I would have been better off buying something mostly finished. I could have sold it and bought something else if my desires changed.

I'm the same age as you and have been interested in cars since my earliest memories. I'm not brand loyal, but we had a 71 Newport and a 68 Dart when I was little (replaced by an 81 LeBaron, 80 Omni, 89 Diplomat and 91 Acclaim), the guy next door had a 70 Cuda and there was always The General Lee, so I gravitated to Chrysler products. Nobody in the family drives Mopars anymore, but I still own one.

As a kid and teenager I wanted a Muscle car, probably a 69 Super Bee would have been ideal. I lived in the rust belt with 6 months of winter so that never happened. We didn't have the space and I wasn't going to pay for storage or two vehicles. My dad wasn't going to put up with any "junk" sitting around either. My first car ended up being a 1986 Dodge Aries 4 door, although not by my choice. I preferred my brother's 1985 Buick Regal. In high school I met some guys who were into offroading, so that was when I started getting an interest in trucks. I realized that offroading was probably going to cause things to break and I wasn't going to be able to fix everything, so I never really got fully into that either. Finally, a friend ended up with a 68 Chevy C10 and I decided that a 2wd truck would be something I wanted. I originally wanted a 72-80 Dodge truck, but eventually gravitated to 61-71 trucks. It wasn't until about 4 years after I moved out of my parents house that I bought my first project vehicle, a 68 D100. Over the years I ended up with quite a few vehicles, some of which I never drove before selling or parting out.

Times have changed and so have I, so what I've wanted out of a project vehicle has changed too. My only current Mopar is a 70 D100 with a frame splice from a 77 D150. It is still in pieces and has been for roughly 15 years. I've had other projects come and go since then. Since my daily driver is a 4wd truck it fulfills 98% of my needs the D100 really doesn't serve a purpose anymore, other than being something old and interesting to drive. That is becoming less practical as time goes on. I hope to eventually finish it.

You want a cruiser with a nice exhaust note, ie, 90% of the mopar people.

My first passion was Vette's when I was about 11 or so. I fell in love with them because of a corvette custom's magazine with a ton of Ecklers body kit vette's in it. Eventually I figured out I could never afford one but I was a car guy by then.

My brother who was 2 years older and wanted a 71 Hemi Cuda. When he was about to turn 15, and old enough to drive, we started looking for a car to share. We ran an ad in the local paper for 66 to 72 Charger/Challenger/etc. After dozens a bat crap crazy adventures in the sticks and bad sections of town we actually found a 73 Charger Rallye 400 Auto, less than 2 miles from us, in the same neighborhood as we lived. It didn't run because it needed a timing chain, but it had a complete 440HP in the trunk. We talked they guy down to 750 and gathered our money. $100 short, my dad said he would cover it, until we actually went to get the car, then he backed out. We went to tell the guy we couldn't get it and he said OK to $650 and kept the spare tire. My brother got to drive the car his junior and senior year and I rebuilt my first engine, that 440 in the trunk, in my living room over the winter when I was 13. Yes, Mom was very understanding, we even got tires for Christmas.

A year or so later it was obvious we could not share our car when I got my license, but I did take my drivers test in that Charger on my 15th birthday in 1981. So I went on the hunt, I ran the same ad and added to the list of even more crazy stories. I ended up buying a 70 Challenger Convertible that had been saved from a junkyard at some point, only 3 miles from my house. Nothing was original but the rear quarters and convertible stuff, frame damage and everything replaced, still needed replacing. I overpaid for it and it was only $225.00. I drove it home with no oil pressure and that was the only time I ever drove it. I bought a 73 340 4 speed Challenger for parts and decided to get it running since it only needed freeze plugs behind the flywheel. I fell in love with that 340 4 speed and never finished the convertible. Well actually I was working on the brakes of the convertible when a girl named Angie called and said she wanted to come over. SHE was the reason I never finished the convertible. LOL

In high school I had my 340 Challenger and several non dodge cars but I bought a 70 Road runner to put my 440 in. A well built 440 3.91 gears and 12" wide tires made for an insane ride. When it grabbed traction it was like getting hit in the head with a 2x4. I had a lot of fun in it but only for a few months. Eventually I seized the motor do to lack of oil under repeated hard acceleration. I learned the hard way if you build an engine, build the oiling system too. Looking back now, I realize the Good Lord was just keeping me alive. I sold the RR body and kept the drive train for my convertible. About 15 years ago while in a "I want a car to drive not race mood", I swapped the 440 out of the convertible and put a 5.9 magnum in it but haven't finished the wiring to drive it.

I got married after high school and my ex-wife killed the 73 Charger's engine in less than 2 weeks of marriage. She hit something, cracked the oil pan and drove it until it stopped running. But, while we were married we bought a 66 Charger, a 74 RR/GTX and a 70 Pink Barracuda coupe with only 55K on it. I ended up with all the cars in the divorce and eventually sold the 66 Charger. I regret it to this day, selling the car, not the divorce.

For awhile I had a 77 New Yorker that died in a fire but the engine lives on and about to be in my 74 Cuda.

With my second wife I bought a 74 Satellite for my boys and I to rebuild. It looked good, took second place at a car show, but I wanted to drive it so my boys and I drove it until parts got hard to get, so much so I bought a parts car, another 74 Satellite.

One of my son's went into Caprice's & Impala's and the other one bought (80's-90's) Daytona's and eventually a 1970 300 Convertible but their passion for cars died out and I ended up taking care of their cars.

I now have a 92 Stealth and an 84 C10 as daily drivers. In storage and in various states of running I still have my
73 Charger Rallye
73 Challenger Rallye
70 Challenger Convertible
70 FM3 Barracuda
74 Satellites (2 of them)
74 RR/GTX (440 RR with GTX hood emblems from factory)
74 Cuda
& a 92 Honda Civic hatchback/wagon
I also have my son's
84 Daytona
86 Turbo Daytona
9? Iroc Daytona
70 Chrysler 300 Convertible

The best part of my cars are the stories, driving them is a blast, but living with them is the true fun. Aside from racing them and the less wholesome stories. I remember bringing Christmas trees home strapped to the roof of the 73 Charger. I did the same with my boys and my 74 Satellite.
My dog would stand between the seats in my Satellite. That was his spot, standing between me and my wife, and that was the only car he could do that in.
My 6 year old son was riding on the hood of the New Yorker in the driveway at my mom's, a slow roll 20 feet max. The car backfired when I shut it off and caught fire. Nothing spectacular, I didn't even know it was on fire until we were walking in the door and I saw smoke under the hood, but to a 6 year old the story was it exploded throwing him from the hood as a fireball engulfed everything. LOL
That car was so big my boys literally used the back seat as a bouncy house.
My cars have personalities. My Charger would run like crap, like it was about to break down on dates, then run fine after I dropped the girl off at her house. My Challenger would only leak oil at one specific girlfriends house, so she made me park in the street. My Stealth will only breakdown on my wife and does often. It has hated her ever since she cracked the windshield one winter trying to get the ice off.

My plan was to fix them up but as I get older I think I will have to let some of them go. I am just going to wait until the economy starts to rebound before I sell.

My thoughts right now on the hobby? It's a buyers market.

DaBee -

That’s a great story…I love that era and the look of the cars, the advertising, and the overall feel of the time in motor sports. It’s interesting that we’re kind of in the same situation now as the early 70s, many production cars are faster than hot rods, the government is trying to strangle the performance market with regulations and impossible mandates, and gas is expensive as heck.

Topside -

Staying young (or feeling young!) is a huge part of it. I’ve been fixing up and partially restoring a K5 Blazer that fell in my lap and it’s been a blast. It’s not a mopar, but it’s so inexpensive to repair and easy to get parts. Wow. I really want another cruiser…with a little attitude.

Tahoe -

A sweptline 4x4 would be a great addition, pie pan headlight era is my favorite, with a PTO winch! 😁 I like the challenger though, if E-bodies weren’t insanely expensive I’d look into those…my girlfriend likes them the best.

Poorboy -

Thanks for sharing….those old pictures are awesome! The customization back then is super cool. Do you still wrench on your dirt tracker?

Soopernaught -

Those old regals are pretty sweet, I’d drive a grand national or one of the sleeper turbos they made. I feel you on the never ending project that sort of loses steam…it’s fun to putter on those things though. I’m restoring an old boat and it’s getting to that point.


Dart 500 -

You’re right, I went from wanting a stop light to stop light speed machine with no creature comforts and a four speed to wanting a cruiser that can light ‘em up on occasion. I guess most people either progress that way or buy a second car to cruise so they can keep their street machine geared for war. In my case, I have to drive at least an hour to get anywhere at 55 mph so having 4:10s and no A/C was an issue…both myself and the car would get pretty warm. It didn’t like driving around at 3,000 rpm for extended periods like that, it would have been perfect if I’d been cruising in the city.

IMGTX -



Funny how it craps out on a backroad with a romantic view along the way home…



I miss this guy as part of the hobby too.

I quit racing back in the early 1990s when things got too expensive that it was no longer fun.

The old # 117 is a 48 Plymouth coupe. I built it as a replica dirt track car that I could drive on the street and enjoy people sharing about the racing someone they knew "back then" that raced these old cars. The coupe was built in 2011/2012 and was licensed in 2012. My wife and I (the same lady I married in 1976) have driven that car through 18 states and nearly 100,000 miles since 2012. I did have to do a few updates on it in 2018, but it pretty much is just a summer driver. The car has an EFI 3.9 V6 out of a Dakota with a 5 speed manual trans. Its fun to drive, the manual trans makes squealing the tires pretty easy, but not too dangerous for this old man. There is no AC (we are not yet AC people, but getting close as we get older). It does have a fresh air vent that makes it tolerable to drive until the temps get into the upper 80s. Its at the point I am maintaining it, not much need nor desire to wrench on it (or anything else) anymore. The coupe is for sale.

Pictures, Coupe progression.
1) Where and as bought.
2) The first round, a little rough around the edges as a real race car would have been.
3) Refining in the process, fixing things that didn't get done the 1st time. The car was only suppose to be a nice day driver for a year or two. This was 6 years and almost 80,000 miles later.
4) As it sat on my driveway a couple months ago. Still a bit rough around the edges.

The truck is the latest project. it was plated in 2021. That truck is on a Dakota 4x4 chassis with a 5.2 magnum, auto OD trans, and 3:55 gears. Its a work in progress that I get to drive. It has replaced the coupe as my primary attention at this point, probably because its a new toy. Gene

I've had ten cars since 1979, all Mopars. Last time I had less than three was 22 years ago.
I've had three Furys (two '67s and a '68), two Stratuses (both generations of sedans, 2000 and '05), three Chargers ('76, '86 and '11), a '91 Daytona and a '17 Challenger.

I've wanted a '66 or '67 Coronet for decades. The dream is an R/T convertible, but I've talked myself out of a couple of small-block 440s and 500s and, once, a real honest-to-God H-code 383 Coronet 500 4-door.

I've been thinking "gas-mileage toy" recently--something old enough for shows, but that won't use half a tank of gas going to and from central PA or the Eastern Shore or DE or south NJ. And I wouldn't be putting all this extra mileage on the Charger and Challenger. I've been all over the place on this idea: '85 LeBaron Town & Country, '84 Laser (2.2/5-speed!), '85 Shelby Charger (Hemmings auction, talked myself out of it because photos raised concerns), '83 Charger 2.2 (consignment dealer and, I think, more than a little overpriced). So far, I've done a really good job of talking myself out of these things. Part of it's "Five cars? Are you insane?" and part of it's "Maybe get a new tank and sender for the '68 for a tenth of the money?"
We'll see what the future holds.

Basically I wanted back into a car like you had, and ended up with the car you want.

I’m not able to write all the story out now of my whole hobby timeline, but I had a 69 4 speed rr I had to sell during some necessary moves. I found a perfect example optioned almost the same way. I was so excited. Then the reality of a seller who didn’t want to pay taxes set in. Without the title in his name, it sank the deal. Then I found a 69 rr drop top that I really liked, commissioned an inspection and got really excited again. Same deal, guy ended up not having it in his name. A local guy had a car, in his name and I bought it. It’s a great car and has meant a lot to my family.

I still feel restless about what I want in a car. I’ve even considered ordering a new challenger exactly my way, but the window is closing in that whole thing and I doubt I will pull the trigger.

What I had and what I’ve got now-

I think all of us miss Stu

When I was a kid in NYC in the 60's, nice cars didn't really exist in Manhattan. There were two cool cars in my neighborhood though, one was a 1968 or 1969 Charger with the big gas cap that a 6 or 7 year old (me) found fascinating, & a late 60's Mustang Fastback. I couldn't tell you if they were performance cars or not but they looked fast just parked there. Since most of my family are from NYC & were still living there, very few had cars or any interest in them. If they did they were cheap beater cars that got you from point A to point B. (most of the time anyway...lol)

In the school library there were car magazines that had the coolest stuff in them. I specifically remember a stock car magazine that had a wing car on the cover. Holy crap that was cool! I had no idea what it was but it was the greatest car I had ever seen in all 8 years of my life. It was even way cooler than Chitty Chitty Bang Bang & that car actually flew with it's wings. A few years later my parents moved us to a NJ suburb with houses, not skyscrapers. Now people in the neighborhood had cars & most weren't beaters. Once I was riding my bike on the other side of town & spotted a bright yellow car with black letters on the side that said, "PLYMOUTH". It had a wing on the back & a pointy nose on the front.

Wow, it was just like the car I had seen on the cover of that magazine! What was a race car doing in someone's driveway?

Fast forward to the late 70's when I was in high school & car crazy. Now I knew what a Superbird & a Daytona were & had to have one. They weren't cheap back then so the money from my paper route & later a part time job weren't getting me in the seat of either. I got a hand me down car from my parents, a 1972 Datsun 510 station wagon. Not a chic magnet but it sure beat walking or riding a bicycle. I still wanted a wing car but combing through the classified ads assured me that wasn't going to happen as a broke college student. I looked anyway & eventually found a cool car I could afford, a 1969 Cadillac Hearse. This wasn't a chic magnet either but it was more fun than a Datsun.

A year later I sold it & bought my first Mopar, a 1969 Dodge Charger SE. It was nice looking, red, black vinyl top, tan leather interior, 383-4V car & pretty damn fast. I loved driving it but it had been abused by previous owners so I spent more time fixing & learning to fix it than driving it. Add that I only worked part time so I had very little money to fix it so it sat a lot. Mother Nature isn't a car's friend so the paint looked bad, the bondo fell out & rust was getting bad after the 3 years I owned it. I tried to find another Charger so I could use mine as a parts car but no luck.

After 5 or 6 months I opened up my options & started to look at other B-Body cars. I even placed an ad in The Want Ad Press Looking for a Charger.

1969 Hemi Road Runner with no motor & no rust for $3000. It still had the red, white & blue paint job that the previous owners had painted it, some guys named Ronnie Sox & Buddy Martin. Who would spend $3000 on a car with no motor??
1970 Dodge Charger, 440 & 17,000 miles for $2200. Can't this guy read? I said I wanted a 1969, not a 1970.
1970 Superbird, partially restored, all the dirty work was done for $1900. (whatever dirty work means?) It was sold by the time I got past the busy signal.
1970 GTX, automatic, buckets, excellent body, nice interior, needs new 440, asking $450. ..............Bought it!!

It was nice, but had red fur on the dash & GM bucket seats that were spray painted black....LOL The motor apparently grenaded on the way home when the seller bought it from the previous owner. He ended up with a 1971 Cuda that he liked better so he was unloading the GTX. I had it flat bedded home but the tow truck driver was a moron. He put the car on the flat bed backwards but never closed the driver's side door all the way. The first block he drove down the door opened up & caught a tree. It crumpled the door, buckled the fender, bent the hinge post & probably damaged even more.

For the first time ever, I had a "NICE" car that wasn't a rust bucket. Wait. No, that's not going to happen because the good car fairy sees to it that I will still never own a nice car & makes sure of it by sprinkling fairy dust on a tow truck driver that we now see on the youtube videos of imbeciles. For the next several decades I never have enough money to snag a nice car that's ready to drive. There were a few screaming deals, like a white Superbird for $15,000 in CT but I had just bought a house with my wife so that wasn't going to happen. A 1970 Dodge Challenger convertible with a new top, new interior for $1200. A 1970 Barracuda convertible for $3000 that had a crappy white paint job over the original yellow.

I do have decent cars but none are road worthy & all are projects. Mostly my own fault because of changing my mind on what I wanted to do, like build a Dodge Charger Convertible that was way beyond my skills. Another is a Daytona replica that I have gathered the parts for, for the last 20 years including a rust free Charger shell. Another car, a 1971 Scamp that I started to modify & got side tracked with a partial restoration that still isn't finished. A lime grean, 1970 Road Runner that I actually bought from a NJ member here on Moparts that I haven't seen on the site in years. Steve Santai (spelling??) Another project that I can't get to but was a better deal than all the junk I had looked at.

I'm done yearning for a nice, old, car & just want a reliable one I can drive. I'm redoing most of my house right now & my wife was let go at her job due to budget cuts so money is tight once again. New roof, windows, doors, deck, etc. I am seriously considering getting rid of EVERYTHING & buying a late model Challenger RT or a 300 SRT. At the age of 60 I don't have the desire that's needed to tear a car apart & rebuild it. My son loves the old cars but isn't into the work they need. Guess I will see what happens this year.

I just turned 69 last week and am still at it .. I still race the 68 Dart I bought 41 years ago almost every weekend.. and still have the 92 D150 standard cab / short bed I bought new back in 1992 as a matter of fact I just took the cover off it in my garage to get it ready for the first cruise night of the year tomorrow evening I also bracket race it on occasion. My " retirement present " was a 21 Ram 1500 4x4 Hemi quad cab to tow the Dart with , I was forced into retirement back in 2020 so I consider myself " semi retired " as I still work part time / on call as a driver / equipment operator for an excavating / landscaping company to fund my Mopar hobby. I think the hobby is doing ok , I go to Chryslers at Carlisle almost every year and the place is always packed and well attended. I go to cruise nights a few times a month and they are always well attended with some nice Mopars also. A close friend of mine works part time for a shop that does work on mainly old Vettes , 55 - 57 Chevies, Chevelles , Camaros, Mustangs , old pickups etc. doing anything from EFI conversions , o/d trans conversions etc. to just regular maintenance and they keep very busy .

I was 12 years old and reading in Popular Mechanics that Plymouth had just won 1-2-3 at the 1964 Daytona 500 with something called a "maximum performance hemispherical combustion chamber Hemi engine". That was the bug that bit me and 58 years later I'm still in the fold.

I'm 54 now and for most of my life I was always into musclecars. And I gravitated to mopars because of how cool they looked and the fact that they were rare to see in the area I lived in. I still have my first car which is a 79 Camaro that I was able to buy because it had a straight six. My dad thought I would kill myself with a v8 as all I talked about was musclecars and he wasn't a car guy.

That car evolved quickly to a 350, 427 and then a 509. That ran 10.70's but still was nice and streetable back in the mid 90's Take that dad.

Anyway the car that really make an impression on me as a teen was the 67 Coronet. It was my dream car and to make a long story short, I was able to build my vision over the course of the early 2000's with a lot of help from the guys on Moparts.

I met my wife in 98 and lucky me she was into cars and really liked 68 chargers. So finally in 2007 we had the means to buy one that I built into a nice cruising mild mannered beast with the help of Jeff Patterson who built of very strong 406 small block that could overcome the 2.94 gears, a/c, etc... and get that car into the high 12's.

I picked up a few other vehicles to add to the collection also such as a 79 Cherokee Chief and a 64 Buick Riviera that I use as a daily driver in the summer.

When I got the Riviera in 2014 I was really looking for a solid but rough around the edges jetson's car (bubble top, finned car from the forward look era of mopars specifically the 59 dodge coronet, or one of the other makes from that space age era.) I couldn't fine one so I settled with the Riviera because it kind of had the look and because you never see them.

Fast forward to 2020, we lost the charger to a distracted driver and I really decided that I had to have a 59 Dodge. Now in my 50's I found I really loved the space age styling of these cars plus the fact the I really didn't know much about them.

I joined the groups and forums and learned all I could about them all the while searching for one of these 59's, resigning myself to having to settle for one of the rare basket cases that would come up once in awhile.

Shockingly a 59 dodge challenger came up on facebook marketplace. It really was a all black one owner top of the line 59 Custom Royal Lancer and it was only 75 miles from me. I'm thinking the only reason I got it was because it was named wrong although they did build 59 Dodge Coronet challangers in silver that were stripped down and called Spring Specials.

This car checked all the boxes for me except for not having a/c. Over the past year I've been fixing it's flaws and enjoying all the attention it gets at the shows and on the drives. It's an amazing car and is now my favorite (am I getting old) out of all my other cars. I find that I am mostly bored of muscle cars after mostly being into them all my life. (I never saw myself thinking like this) It's all about the space age styling of the late 50's, early sixtys now.

It's got a 361, push button torqueflite, swivel bucket seats, mirrormatic mirror that automatically adjusts, and other cool futuristic features.

Anyway, I'm now wondering which car I have has go to make room for another one.

68Sport Fury -

I hear you on the 5 cars...i have three currently and would like to add a fourth. That's not counting my girlfriend's daily driver Honda...C-bodies are really cool and great cruisers. Get that gas tank!

SomeCarGuy -

I like both of them! The brown and green cars are more appealing to me in my old age. Maybe its because there are so many red, yellow, black, etc. beautiful cars that they really stand out. Green on green is really cool! I might be a little biased since my first Coronet was green on green...I also love the non rally dash with the swept needle. Do you have any other pictures of your cars?

Dart4Forte -

Remember when you gave me the 383 hood ornament for my 67 Belvedere II? Thanks again.

Old_moparz -

The market on those new challengers is pretty good right now...you could probably slide into a nice R/T or SRT for a reasonable amount. I'm kind of in the same boat, i have never been able to smartly afford the 'dream car' so I thought I'd build it. At the end of the day...get what makes you happy. That's what I'm thinking.


6pkbee -

Have you ever had a hemi? I have not.

Rapom -

That is a SWEET 67! wow. I love the old 59 headlights, it looks so mean. I feel like you've got a good problem with all those really nice cars. This one has always been in the back of my mind as one of the coolest cars I/ve ever seen. I love the space age interior...thats the only part of the 68-70 cars that is lacking is the 'cockpit' look.

I have a '67 Hemi GTX project that I hope to drive before I run out of shopping days!

Yeah, that's a 61 Plymouth Fury. Looks like it's from another world. Love the interior. That's a beauty. That dash was also used in the Dodge's and Desotos in 1960. Just last month I installed a new dash pad and added led lights to give it more of an electrolumence look that the Astrodome dashes of the 1960-62 Chrysler's had.

Here you go. The white car was most fun car I’ve ever had. It was so dialed in. I’m working my way through the gold car. It’s a lot better after some basic work to make it…work. Some really silly mistakes were made.

Great pics and stories.

I can't believe I forgot this story lol. When I took Auto in high school there were a bunch of hard cover reference books in a room and I loved looking through them. Some went pretty far back. I found one with a picture of a complete 1970 340 and at the bottom of pic in small print it said something about pic being provided by Chrysler Corporation. Anyway I looked around, tore the picture out of the book and folded it around the picture and carried it in my wallet all through high school. I bet if I look through a box of papers in spare bedroom I'd find it.

rapom -

That radio/dash lighting looks like an atomic reactor glow…so cool. Those are LED? I need something similar for my cars!

somecarguy -

So the brown 4-speed interior was in the white car and the black auto interior is the GTX? That’s a SWEET looking car.

You got it. The white car was fully and I mean fully changed to white from t5. You wouldn’t known it unless you saw the tag. I was lucky I love the white and it was a no sell on eBay. I saved the number and about 6 mo the later I had the cash for what was the opening bid it never got. Guy was stunned I had saved the number and gladly sold an unloved white car without a fee.

Ironically I had a list of cars I wanted this time, a 69 GTX wasn’t one of them. It fell from the sky and I quickly decided to go for it. It was everything I didn’t want, and doesn’t have things I did. You just never know.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9MGSX7K?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Yes they are led. Here is a link to the lights. They should fit your car.

I installed this Dakota digital dash in my friend’s 68 Sport Satellite. You can completely customize the panel colors and even the needle colors. Unfortunately this is not a cheap dash, but I can tell you that it was the first time I was happy about how a sophisticated aftermarket dash installed and worked as designed.

There are lcd screens that you can program and switch to depending on your tastes.
Very cool.
These pictures where snap shots from a video. Sorry about the poor quality.

I finished the restoration of this one recently and am putting on some test miles. The first time I ran across it was around 1980 and ended up with it a little over three years ago. I hope to continue with being involved in the hobby for several more years, as I do still enjoy it.

That’s a real eye catcher👍

My family goes back to owning a desoto,60s chrysler newport,66 coronet,70 polara,73 monaco with a 440 man it seemed fast,77 360 fury while in highschool.Freinds had a dusters and demons,one of the many times while working on the duster we drained the break fluid in budwiesr beer bottles while drinking the same beer not thinking I took a swig of the beer sitting on my friends lawn and it was full of break fluid! Some how I swallowed it and was ok,but a started really enjoying martinis

SomeCarGuy -

I like the GTX...a gentleman's hotrod. I feel like the GTX is generally kind of underrated.

rapom -

I just ordered a set of those lights. Thanks! The digital dash is pretty cool.

BiggE -

That is a great looking Cuda....my favorite year.

rdrnr6970 -

I generally try to avoid drinking brake fluid...I may have had a similar experience with a dip spitter in college...YUCK!

Ohhhh man that's horrible,sorry to hear that,makes brake fluid sound refreshing!

Ive owned nothing but Mopar since my senior year of high school.
A friend of mine in high school drove a limelight Superbird his senior year and I was hooked from that point on.
I bought a blue 1969 Roadrunner, 383 column auto, the summer of 1977 and gave a whopping $150 for it and drove it home.


Over the years Ive had A LOT of others including 2 hemi cars, one Daytona ( project ) 2 1969 GTX convertibles and so much more

Currently own two 1966 Satellites , 1 hemi and 1 383 ( soon to be for sale ) And am looking at a 1966 Belvedere convertible to make for the 2nd keeper once the 383 cars sells.

At 63 and retirement right around the corner Im good with the 2 as keepers.

The key for me is my 2 daughters both love the old cars. Both want one of their own. Hopefully Before mine becomes theirs.
If not,,,,. Mine will be passed to them when that time comes and I feel like they will be in very good hands.

basically exactly like so, Only a 1969

First muscle car I ever got a ride in was when I was 16. A friend in High School had a '70 Hemi Orange Super Bee 383 pistol grip 4 speed. Not the fastest car on the planet for sure but in the 80's and coming out of slant sixes and 318's wow was I impressed!

Gordon Wellman, where are you today???

I have had so many cars so far . . . first Mopar that really stuck was the Chrysler 300, had a couple 69's then (3) 70 300Hursts, and "made" (1) 70 300Hurst convertible (hence A12rag - A12 was code in 70 for the 300Hurst) . . . My 74 Duster360 was with me for over 30years, drove it over 100k miles ! Basically this "hobby" for me, started out as just me keeping the damn thing on the road - couldn't afford to pay a mechanic to fix things. Learned from dad, along the way - thanks Dad !! . . . Then it morphed into having some "nicer cars" that I could take to carshows - LONG LONG drive away from home, like Vegas, or Spring Fling in Van Nuys, or Seattle & Spokane Mopar shows, Carlisle, etc . . . funny thing, along the way, meeting all the great people I call friends now ! Nice to be able to visit with them, even without the car(s) . . . .

Who knows what future holds, and whole idea is to enjoy ! The people, friends, adventures (man love just having a trip with no set points, but enjoy the journey along the way), and of course the cars . . . .

Just my 2cents

Cheers,

Mark

The cars are so valuable yet difficult to impossible to have repaired in the event of a collision. Modern body shops only go back maybe a decade. I can see where someone may only put 200 miles on their car per season.

i have had my charger since 1970.
over the last 15 years, it has sit because of mounting health issues, and it seems i just get started to get it running again so i can enjoy it some before i croak, and something else crops up.........

I’m lucky to have some pics of my first car. From before internet so they haven’t been lost by a crashed hard drive, like so many of my pics were before backup stuff became common.

That's a great old roadrunner...I think I have a hard copy picture of my old green coronet somewhere. I'll have to look...now I'm curious.

I'm starting to want to get back into the hobby if I can find the right car at the right price...like everyone else in the world!

Here is a cool car that I was lucky enough to drive once. RIP Hemi Herb!:

Yep, that is one thing that changed completely since I was a kid into cars. They became investments to a certain crowd which raised the price on everything related to the hobby. Gas prices have also gone up a bit since I started driving, although when adjusted for inflation they aren't that high. Gas prices have cut down the driving for fun thing I did back in the day.

Please post a few photos of your charger! I'd love to see it.

I've noticed in the last 20 years that the number of non performance 'drivers' has went down dramatically. There used to be a lot of older satelllites, belvederes, darts, valiants, furies, coronets, and dusters driven daily or in patina paint cruising on the weekends. I guess they have been restored, cloned, turned into tributes, etc. because I rarely see one at the grocery store any more. I love seeing a survivor/restored sport satellite or coronet 440 at a car show though, they really stand out against all the performance models. Variety is good! It's also really cool when people bring old four door family cruisers to shows...many times they have been really well maintained and not beaten on by teenage hotrodders. It's almost like you need the run of the mill models to help the hot cars pop.

Okay, you take your '68 Charger to Walmart and park it in the parking lot. When you come out:

1) It's been stolen.
2) It's been keyed.
3) It has a door ding bigger than the grand canyon.
4) It's been hit.

Now you are wishing you had taken your POS Kia.

True, people are crazy out there. The same thing can happen if you have a hellcat challenger or TRX. When my powerwagon was newer some a-hole slammed their door into mine three times and left some serious dings. I was parked well away from the front of the store and in my spot. I was commenting more on how there are less old 60s - 70s daily drivers out there these days, especially four doors and slant six or 318 models.

That’s why I left my Gen III Hemi powered 55 Dodge Pickup like this. Never have to worry about some clown slamming his door against it. It’s my daily driver and I can park in the front row at wallymart with out worrying.